Ivy Day (United States)

Ivy Day

Ivy growing on the side of Hathorn Hall, featuring respective classes' Ivy Stones
Named after	The ivy plant, Hedera
Type	University and college tradition
Region	New England, Northeastern United States
Founded in 1873

Ivy Day is an annual ceremony in which an ivy stone is placed on either a residential, academic or administrative building or ground to commemorate academic excellence. The ceremony is most known for being practiced among older colleges in the Northeastern United States. It is most associated with the Ivy League and a group of small liberal arts college known as the Little Ivies. Some institutions announce members of Phi Beta Kappa and specialized honor designations for students. Some classes donate to the college, in the form gates, facades, and door outlines, by inscribing or creating their own version of symbolic icons of the college's seal or other prominent insignia. The ivy stones are usually decorated with the graduation date and a symbol that represents the college as a whole or the class as a whole. The most common ivy stone is one-by-two feet and is usually made out of workable stone.

On occasion students have featured prominent alumni on their class ivy stones or have selected to feature an engraving of a member of their graduating class. Since 1873 at the University of Pennsylvania and since 1879 at Bates College, students have unveiled class ivy stones at the annual ivy day preceding commencement. Students may also have a selective procession prior to the official commencement walk to honor each stone being placed on the buildings. On some occasions students plant ivy in front or on the side of their ivy stones.Princeton University also places class ivy stones on the walls of its buildings, a few days prior to their commencement. Students are known to give speeches at Ivy Day to commemorate their time and work at the college. Select medical schools also participate in Ivy Day prior to their White Coat Ceremony.